Why Trump should win his NY hush money trial

I did... Bragg is prosecuting a state misdemeanor than has ran out the statute of limitations..

 

Funny how a NY Judge and a NY Appellate Court disagrees with your assessment.

I wonder who has more experience in NY law?

My money is going on the courts.

 

The indictment says otherwise.

 

He’s not, my misinformed chum.

 

Holy geez.

The underlying allegation Trump is being charged with is a clerical misdemeanor charge, but the statute of limitations has expired. The only way Bragg can prosecute this case is if that clerical issue was in furtherance of another crime, which makes it a felony and extends the statute of limitations. Trump didn't commit another alleged violation of NY State law in connection with this clerical issue because it was regarding a federal election. So Bragg is bootstrapping a federal allegation to this NY clerical issue, for the first time in NY history, to extend the statute of limitations and bring this prosecution during the presidential campaign. It is believed Bragg is going to be making the argument that this should have been paid for out of Trump's campaign account (a federal matter). Please. Catch. Up.

 

Read the order from the federal court rejecting Trump’s attempt to remove the matter to federal court. It lays out the case and the law. You’re wrong.

 

Once again, there is no such thing as a "Federal Election"...there are Federal Laws about campaign financing, but ALL elections are carried out by the various states and each state also has laws about Campaign Finance.

 

This makes about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.

1. There are such things as federal elections. In fact, there's a whole commission that oversees federal elections. It's called the Federal Elections Commission. Maybe you've heard of it. Here's a Wikipedia article where you can learn the basics about federal Presidential elections in the United States. I understand if foreigners don't understand how elections work in America, so feel free to ask any questions you may have.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election

2. States assist in federal elections, but the filing of campaign expense reports goes to the federal government and the laws regarding their enforcement are done at the federal level. Think of it like cheating on your federal taxes. That's a federal crime, and federal courts can prosecute you. If you cheat on your state taxes that is a state crime.

 

Oh no! Bragg is screwed now!

 

Bbbbut George Soros must have paid them!!

 

Fake News. Bragg has no legitimate power to enforce Federal Election law, the FEC does and the SDNY does, and they both investigated and so case, because Trump didn't pay this with campaign funds, because it wasn't a campaign expense. Further, Bragg has to say what crime Trump committed that allowed Bragg to convert a misdemeanor to a felony. Shame on the Corrupt Judge for not already throwing this case out because Bragg never stated the crime he's claiming Trump committed.

I'll let you in on a secret. Bragg hasn't stated the crime, because there isn't one, and this corrupt Judge knows it.

Are you saying that Trump should have paid Stormy in campaign funds? Yes or No?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...focused_on_trump_instead_of_street_crime.html

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vi...focused_on_trump_instead_of_street_crime.html

'NYC MOTHER: I think it is absolutely politically motivated, especially when Alvin Bragg is not prosecuting everyday crime that's happening here in New York City where he is dropping murder and gang assault indictments against two of the people involved in my son's murder. If he would actually do his job and prosecute crime instead of wasting more of our tax dollars and more of the public's time going after Trump, maybe just, maybe things can start to turn around.'

 

He's not enforcing any Federal Laws...he's enforcing NY State laws, that allow for an upgrade to a felony if done to cover another crime. He's not prosecuting Trump under that other crime, merely using it to upgrade the NY crime from a misdemeanor to a felony.

As to whether or not it was a campaign expense is part of the question at hand. The money was used to kill a story that would have harmed Trump's Presidential Campaign. If that is true then it IS a campaign expense and that Cohen did not report it as such is one of the reasons Cohen was convicted.

I'm saying that a payment to Stormy to kill a story that would have derailed Trump's campaign is, by definition, a campaign expense. It doesn't matter what Trump or Cohen called it in an effort to hide it.


And he has stated very clearly what the crime was.

So we have a DA, who went to law school and has been working in the field for years
A judge who went to law school and has been working n the field for years
An appellate court where the members went to law school and have been working in the field for years

ALL saying that the charges are valid

VERSUS

A bunch of anonymous internet forum posters who are claiming they are not

Which side to believe, which side to believe...Hmmm

Sorry, I'm going with the people that actually went to law school.

 

That's factually wrong. He's using a federal campaign finance law violation, which he has no legitimate power to enforce, to transmogrify a misdemeanor with an expired statute of limitations into a 'felony' that is only not also expired, only because the statute of limitations was extended by a year, by NY State, because of Covid.

And, Democrat Soros prosecutor, Bragg, never identifies what Federal Statute Trump 'violated', quite frankly because the violation is a Bragg myth. I'm not going to go back and forth with, I've told you this before, if you want to actually know the truth, you'll look it up yourself.

Except that Bragg never charges Trump with that, and in our system the defendant has a RIGHT to know what the crime is he is being charged with, prior to trial, so that they know what charge they are preparing a defense for.

And the reason that Bragg is claiming he that as a campaign finance violation is because it would be unlawful for Trump to use campaign money to pay hush money, because it's not a legitimate campaign expense, as there a number of sufficient independent reasons why a married public figure would pay a nuisance settlement to a porn star that was extorting him.

So, you actually are going to argue, with a straight face, that Trump violated the law by using his own money, rather than campaign money to pay off Stormy was campaign finance violation. Are you also going to claim, with a straight face, that if Trump HAD paid her off with campaign funds that he wouldn't have been charged with misuse of campaign funds?

Oh sure, he survived clear audio in his own distinctive voice about how attractive women will let randy $Billionaires grab them by the *****, but the payoff to Story would have 'sunk' him? That doesn't pass the giggle test. Further, the ledger entries, and campaign finance disclosures were not made until 2017 after the election was over, and FEC (and note that F there stands for FEDERAL not STATE) disclosures were not due until 2017, after the election was over.

The appellate courts aren't stepping in before a verdict is rendered, which hasn't happened yet.

Neither you, nor anyone else, knows what the charge is that supposed converts the expire misdemeanor into an unexpired felony. And you know why neither you, nor anyone else knows what that charge is? Because Bragg hasn't said. So how in the world can all these folks you just listed know that the charge is valid, when they don't even know what the charge is?

You claim that Cohen pleading guilty to campaign finance violation 'proves' that Trump violated the law, and that's silly. Cohen's an idiot who was making a deal, he's also a convicted liar. He can't plead guilty for Trump, though that is what the Soros Democrat Prosecutor Bragg tried to pull off, and even the Trump hating judge with the tweezed eyebrows, Merchan, didn't go for that. Continued in a seperate post to the group.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corn...to-prove-trump-committed-campaign-law-crimes/

 

Judge Merchan Bars Use of Cohen’s Guilty Plea to Prove Trump Committed Campaign-Law Crimes.


Noted Clown, Liar, and Crook, who thinks he is going to ride persecuting Trump to the Gov. Mansion.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corn...to-prove-trump-committed-campaign-law-crimes/

Only fools thought that Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) to an admission of guilt to the campaign violations was of evidentiary value in the prosecution of Trump. Cohen’s guilty plea is not evidence that Trump committed campaign crimes.

'Cohen did not plead guilty in federal court because of campaign-finance violations, which were merely an opportunistic add-on. Cohen pled guilty because the SDNY had him dead-to-rights on serious fraud charges.'

'Cohen committed bank fraud in connection with a multimillion-dollar line of credit. Bank fraud carries a penalty of up to 30 years’ imprisonment. As the most severe offense he faced, it was the driver of the federal sentencing guidelines that would apply to his case. Cohen’s crimes were not sufficiently heinous that he was going to be sentenced to anything close to 30 years; but once a 30-year crime was in the mix, it didn’t much matter to his ultimate sentence whether he pled guilty to ten less-egregious offenses, no such offenses, or something in between.'

'In addition to the bank fraud, Cohen pled guilty to five counts of tax evasion, each carrying a potential five-year prison term. By the Justice Department’s description, these felonies involved over $4 million in unreported income. The evidence of what the SDNY called “The Tax Evasion Scheme” covered four years. If the case had ever gone to trial, that fraud scheme would have been the framework within which the SDNY unfolded its bank-fraud proof. That was the heart of the Cohen prosecution.'

'That is why Cohen pled guilty. He was looking at years of incarceration. And as is common when a suspect is in such straits, Cohen desperately sought to become a cooperating witness for the government. Why? Because under the federal sentencing guidelines, if the prosecutors can be persuaded to file a pre-sentencing motion attesting to the court that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of other suspects, especially suspects higher up in the food chain, the judge is then authorized to ignore the sentencing guidelines and impose a sentence of no jail time — or, at least, minimal jail time.'

 

'Cohen was trying to sell himself as a cooperator. But here’s the problem: The guy the prosecutors wanted to nail was Trump, and Trump was not complicit in any of the tax- and bank-fraud schemes at issue in Cohen’s case.'

So Cohen decided to peddle the Trump NDA's, which of course, are not illegal. And Trump wisely did not use campaign funds to cover them, as legitimate campaign expenses must be solely driven by the needs of the campaign, whereas Trump as a husband, father, public figure and many personal reasons for settling up with Stormy for the nuisance value she was extorting from him for her silence, which she didn't honor, as soon as she thought she saw an opportunity to make a few more bucks, by violating.

But the corrupt crooked politicized prosecutors did have Cohen in desperate straights, and even though the law was not on the SDNY’s side' they did throw in an offer, with no 'firm promises: Plead guilty to two campaign-finance felonies (the Daniels and McDougal NDAs), implicate Trump in the underlying schemes, and they’d consider giving him a cooperation agreement.' And Cohen dove on it like Stormy Daniels dives on a $20 bill.

This was Cohen's sole chance of getting out of his own mess, without serving time, so he agreed to help the crooked politicized prosecutors, go after Trump.

The charges were garbage, but they were in a plea agreement that would never be tested in court or appealed, so, "what the hell" and they offered it, and Cohen signed it.

Well, it turns out that a deal with the SDNY is about as good as deal with Stormy to keep her mouth shut. Cohen got sentence to 3 years,'now claims the SDNY double-crossed him, and he has suddenly decided he wasn’t guilty after all of the tax-evasion charges to which he pled guilty — a posture that not only further weakens him as a prosecution witness for Bragg, but must also be a source of at least some embarrassment for those who now argue that the campaign-finance crimes were real because Cohen admitted to them when he pled guilty.'

This would be funny were it not crooked corrupt election fixing. And in the end they dropped the whole thing, because they simply did not have a campaign finance violation case against Trump, not by any stretch.

But then this corrupt State Prosecutor, Democrat, backed by George Soros, decided to try to use all this to wizard an expired misdemeanor case into an unexpired felony.

Check out how this corrupt clown, Bragg operates.

'Alvin Bragg published a Statement of Facts, so-called, in conjunction with unsealing the Trump indictment. Its recitation about the Cohen guilty plea is a disgrace. Here’s what the elected Democrat asserts:'

'At the Defendant’s [Trump’s] request, a lawyer who then worked for the Trump Organization as Special Counsel to Defendant [Cohen], covertly paid $130,000 to an adult film actress [Daniels] shortly before the election to prevent her from publicizing a sexual encounter with the Defendant. Lawyer A made the $130,000 payment through a shell corporation he set up and funded at a bank in Manhattan. This payment was illegal, and Lawyer A has since pleaded guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution and served time in prison.'

'Bragg is an experienced prosecutor who worked, among other places, in the SDNY. Having worked there nearly 20 years myself, I can assure you that federal prosecutors are well aware of the rudimentary criminal-law principle that Defendant A’s guilty plea to a charge is not evidence that Defendant B is guilty of that charge, even if A claims that he and B supposedly committed the crime together. A is permitted to testify to the actions he and B took, but his claim that he is guilty is an irrelevant (and in this instance, incompetent) legal conclusion; as fact testimony, it is irrelevant. A “statement of facts” — outlining what prosecutors represent they will be able to prove at trial — has no business relying on such a guilty plea; transparently, Bragg included that detail for the improper purpose of intimating that, since Cohen pled guilty to federal campaign crimes, Trump must also be guilty of them.'

This tells you all you need to know about Alvin Bragg.

 

Bragg is also lying when he claims that the payment was illegal. 'NDAs are a staple of legal settlements in the United States, which is what the legally enforceable written agreement between Cohen/Trump and Daniels was. All NDAs are “covert” — that’s what non-disclosure means. It doesn’t make them illegal. Nor was there anything illegal about Cohen’s setting up a “shell company” and “funding” it (with money he lawfully drew down from a bank line of credit).'

'Bragg’s claim that the payment was illegal hinges on two things:
(a) Cohen’s guilty plea, and
(b) Bragg’s theory, under the federal laws that he has no authority to enforce, that Cohen’s payment of $130,000 to Daniels was a campaign expenditure that exceeded the contribution limit. The guilty plea is not evidence. The payment was not a campaign expenditure under federal law (if it were, then candidates could lawfully buy the silence of porn stars with campaign contributions). And the contribution limit to which Cohen would have been subject if the payment had been a campaign expenditure was inapplicable to Trump, who, as the candidate, was not subject to a contribution limit.

Now Bragg's probably not this stupid, but he trusts that his audience is, and he's confident that an entire chorus of corrupt politicized Talking Heads and Trump hating folks in the legal community will amplify and fan this across the national media, which they did, and that whatever judge was picked in NY, would be crooked enough, not to promptly throw it out, all Bragg assumptions that have proven to be true.

'Bragg’s representation that Cohen had “since pleaded guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution and served time in prison” is a whopper the media would festoon with Pinocchios if Trump had said it. Bragg conveniently leaves out that the crimes to which Cohen pled guilty principally included over $4 million in willful tax evasion and false statements to a financial institution — all based on conduct in which Trump had no involvement, resulting in charges carrying a potential statutory penalty of 55 years’ imprisonment. That’s why he served time in prison. Bragg neglected to mention that these more serious felonies — which actually were felonies — involved dollar amounts that dwarfed the money involved in the McDougal ($150,000) and Daniels ($130,000) payments (which were not actually crimes — that’s why the federal authorities that have jurisdiction to enforce federal campaign law never charged Trump). Bragg also leaves out that Cohen’s sentence was informed by his perjury conviction in the Mueller investigation.'

'The Cohen guilty plea to phantom campaign crimes was never proof of anything, yet it is the foundation of Bragg’s grotesque attempt to turn a misdemeanor business-records allegation, on which the statute of limitations lapsed years ago, into 34 felony counts of fraudulent concealment of a federal campaign crime. It is now out of the case as evidence of anything other than Cohen’s mendacity. It should never have been in the case . . . but then again, the case should never have been brought.'

And that is the steaming pile of crap that Judge Tweezed Eyebrows is humping so that the coordinating lying fake news media can Trumpet a "felony conviction" in a rigged court, so that they can endless refer to Trump as convicted felon, counting on the fact that it won't be reversed by an upper court prior to the election.



And I think the entire hoax may blow in their faces during the election.

 

nevermind

 

The money was not from the campaign to cover up the fact that it was a campaign expenditure.

The money came from Cohen...Cohen, by spending the money on behalf of the campaign violated Federal Campaign Finance laws, was charged, convicted and served time for it.
Trump reimbursed Cohen thus the money used to reimburse Cohen was also a Campaign Contribution.
Trump entered false business records about the reimbursement thus the charge of falsifying business records. Since the falsifying of the buiness records was done to cover up the crime that Cohen committed that bumps it to a felony.

 

Thank you for sharing your opinion, I always enjoy a lively discussion. The case will fall apart, either during this trial, or on appeal, for the reasons I gave you. Take care, Zorro.

 

it was a loan..

 

A loan from who to who?

Cohen spent the money, are you saying Cohen loaned Trump the money and that Trump was just paying it back?

 

it was a loan... we don't need any paper work or explanation... it just is...

 

Who woulda thunk... Could this had actually had happened... sounds like a direct conflict of interest and hint of Impropriety that most judges would be MADE to recuse themselves...According to an analysis by the New York Post, Schiff’s Senate campaign committee — he is running to replace the late Dianne Feinstein — has paid Authentic Campaigns more than $10 million. The Post also reported that Schiff cited the Bragg indictment in emails looking for campaign donations, raising questions as to whether Authentic Campaigns was involved in those solicitations.

After Schiff and six other Democrats delivered articles of impeachment to the Senate in January 2020. Schiff’s campaign committee paid a new Chicago-based consulting firm $600,000 for digital media buys presumably to spread the word via email, text, and social media/online advertisements that the California congressman planned to oust Trump. The firm, Authentic Campaigns, is headed by Loren Merchan , the 34-year-old daughter of the New York judge now overseeing the so-called hush money case against Trump.

https://twitter.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1781376173731197038
https://tennesseestar.com/commentar...nflict-in-hush-money-trial/jkelly/2024/04/02/

 

You want to claim it's a loan you do need SOMETHING

Well damn, the 600,000 paid to the firm (Not to the judge or the judge's daughter...but to the firm she worked for) was PRESUMABLY used to for something something something.

God that is just so pathetic.

Trump was charged in April of 2013, over THREE YEARS AFTER the payment took place. There was no indictment, there were no charges and no judge had been assigned to the case. There is no way ANYONE could have known that the charges were coming of that Judge Merchan would be assigned to the case. To claim that the payment made, when no one had a clue about the hush money case let alone what judge would be assigned, was some sort of bribe is insanely stupid.

 

Oh no, @Nwolfe35, it was a loan and we don't have to prove to you with any paper work or documentation at all..... it is a loan because we simply say so...
The precedent has been set by the left for just this.... ain't it fun?

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/US-Bankruptcy-Court-Complaint.pdf